Review: Bifrost Winter Ale from Elysian
Editor’s Note: Today is day six in our Twelve Days of Christmas series on Pints and Steins – where we’ll be letting you know about a winter beer every day between now and Christmas Eve.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Bifrost from Elysian Brewing!
Elysian Brewing is based in Seattle and turns out really fantastic brews. The one small brewery was bought by big beer earlier in 2015, but the innovation hasn’t stopped from Elysian.
Today we take a look at their annual winter ale – BiFrost. Tale is 8.3% ABV and is brewed with Amarillo, Centennial and Styrian Goldings hops.
Elysian isn’t shy about the hop profile in this beer – it’s a strong, hoppy winter ale.
How does it taste?
I poured Bifrost from the 22 oz bomber you see here and it has a toasted bread scent – my wife reported that she immediately smelled grapefruit. I’d say it was similar to orange spice tea. Don’t let that fool you though – this is NOT an orangey tasting beer.
The beer pours a hazy orange with a big off-white head.
At first sip, you pick up on the sweet hoppiness that’s notable but not overwhelming. Then, the citrus and sweet flavors produce a lovely feel in your mouth. This is a well formulated, smooth beer that both my wife and I enjoyed.
Should I buy it?
As long as you’re ok with mild bitterness in a beer, you’ll love this holiday warmer from Elysian. I bought it at Safeway and I’ve seen it at most stores that sell bomber bottles.
Review: Pyramid Snow Cap Winter Ale
Pyramid Brewing used to be one of my favorite breweries because it was local when I lived in Seattle for a short time long ago. However, I’ve had a few of their beers in the last few years and they haven’t been all that great.
However, let’s take a fresh look at Pyramid as I focus on their Snow Cap Winter Warmer ale as a part of the winter/holiday ale series. Snow Cap Winter Warmer is a very dark amber ale that has a very unique taste to it. Some winter ales, as beer fans know, are dark and very malty, however, Snow Cap continues this streak of a dark bodied amber combind with roasted chocolate-tasting malt to add extra zing and a hint of sweetness.
Snow Cap Winter Warmer utilizes three different malts including Caramel, Chocolate malt and barley combined with Willamette hops and a few others. It is 7.0 ABV and has a low IBU score of 47, meaning it isn’t very bitter at all.
Snow Cap pours a dark copper/amber color and has a frothy head at the top, a little too much for my taste. When you first sip Snow Cap, the beer’s amber flavor comes through with a nice hit of malted barley providing a somewhat chocolatey taste, but not too much. This isn’t a sweet beer, but a smooth one. After you swig it around, you can taste the hops kick in a little, providing some floral zing and finishing off with the hint of caramel.
This beer is very similar to Widmer Brrr, although not as sweet on the last bit of the drink. Snow Cap is excellent. This is by far the best beer I’ve ever had form Pyramid and has restored my faith in them…I’ll be looking for more Pyramid ales for review.
Do you have a Pyramid ale that you especially like?